Monday, November 17, 2014

Critically-acclaimed Jeffrey Wright continually pushes the
boundaries of his craft with inspiring and celebrated performances in an
illustrious career that has spanned the worlds of theatre, film and television.
On the big screen, Wright was most recently seen in Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers
Left Alive which was released last April.

On television, he currently
appears on HBO's Boardwalk Empire, playing Dr. Valentin Narcisse, Doctor of
Divinity, philanthropist, student of culture and the man who runs Harlem. Onstage, this versatile thespian played
the lead in John Guare's A Free Man of Color, which was directed by the
legendary George C. Wolfe at Lincoln
Center. And he garnered a
Tony Awardin 1994 for his work in Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning
epic Angels in America,
also directed by Wolfe.

On film, Jeffrey has
portrayed a stunning array of icons and iconoclasts. His brilliant portrayal of
the renowned and controversial graffiti artist Jean Michel Basquiat in the 1996
film Basquiat received widespread praise from critics and earned him an
Independent Spirit Awardnomination. At the other end of the spectrum, he has taken on
roles in the James Bond films, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, and starred
as Muddy Waters in Cadillac Records and as Colin Powell in Oliver Stone's W.

His other credits
include Jonathan Demme's remake of The Manchurian Candidate, Jim Jarmusch's
Broken Flowers, Ang Lee's Ride with the Devil, and Shaft. For his portrayal of
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in HBO's Boycott, he received a 2001 AFI award.

In addition to acting,
Jeffrey is Vice Chairman of Taia Lion Resources and Chairman of Taia Peace
Foundation. He also serves on the boards of directors of the Tribeca Film
Institute and Resolve. Furthermore, he was named by Sierra Leone as the Peace by Piece
Ambassador for the country's 50th Anniversary Independence Celebration, and
received the Humanitarian Award at the 2011 Napa Valley Film Festival for his
work with the Taia Peace Foundation.

Here, he talks about
his latest outing as Beetee in The Hunger Games – Mockingjay
Part 1.

Kam
Williams: Hi Jeffrey, thanks for another interview.

Jeffrey Wright:
Hey, how’re you doin’, Kam?

KW:
Great! How was it being back with The Hunger Games and playing Beetee again?

JW:
The film has kind of been an expansion of these stories, though
not from Beetee’s perspective. It sort of shrinks for him in that he’s
wheelchair-bound and kind of confined to a laboratory’s space. But the films
around him are expanding and the stakes are being raised, and we’re entering
these districts that we really haven’t explored before. So, it’s kind of a
thrilling ride. From Beetee’s perspective, he becomes the lens through which we
enter these other worlds, since he’s responsible for communications. That’s
kind of exciting. I was also drawn to the idea of propaganda and communication
as a weapon, since it’s relevant to a lot of what’s happening outside of cinema
nowadays.

KW:
Children’s book author Irene Smalls asks: Your
character, Beetee, in The Hunger Games is revered for his intellect. Is that a
departure from the roles typically offered actors of color?

JW:
I don’t think there is a typical role offered actors of
color. Perhaps that was true many generations ago but, thankfully, there has
been tremendous progress forged by a host of actors who preceded me who have
expanded the possibilities. Even in the past, many roles that might have been
stereotypical were subverted in some way. I’m very excited about seeing this
recently-discovered Bert Williams film found at the Museum of Modern Art
in which he performs in blackface, like he does in many of his movies. As he
describes, he does an impersonation of a black man. [Chuckles] I love that idea
because he was one of the most brilliant performers in cinema, ever. And we’ve
only seen a few short clips of his work. But W.C. fields described him as the
funniest man he’d ever seen, and the saddest man he ever knew. I say that to
suggest that there are never limitations, whether you’re an actor or anyone
taking on a task because, if you look back a century, there was a performer of
color, Bert Williams, who, despite being confined to blackface, was doing some
of the most thrilling acting that I’ve ever seen on camera. From what I
understand, he was even somewhat of an inspiration for Charlie Chaplin’s Little
Tramp, which was the first major, iconic cinematic persona. So, I’ve kind of
gotten away from believing in limitations.

KW:
Director Rel Dowdell says: You’re one of the best!

JW:
Thanks!

KW:
He goes on to say: Given your
peerless acting talents, do you ever think of yourself as underrated?

JW:
No, I don’t, Rel. Some people say that, but, no, I don’t.

KW: Chandra McQuen says: You are such
an amazing and versatile talent with an impressive list of credits to your
name. You seem to be cast in roles based on your talent and not the color of
your skin. Do you ever feel the weight of being a minority actor? What dream role
would you like to play, if casting were 100% colorblind?

JW:
I’m doing what I want to do. If casting were 100% colorblind,
the characters I’d want to play are the same ones I’ve wanted to play prior.
The one role I’ve considered developing a film about is Alexander Pushkin, the
Russian writer, poet, lover and madman.

KW: Marcia Evans says: Jeffrey Wright
is one of my all-time favorite actors ever. I had the opportunity to meet
him briefly a few years back he was so gracious. He is the epitome of what
I call a man with integrity. Please don't complete this interview without my
question. The other day, I watched his awesome performance playing the
Dominican drug dealer in Shaft for the umpteenth time. I love your Latin accent,
especially the line about “Egyptian Cotton.” Wow! I would like to know how
you captured the accent and flavor of the Dominican culture so well.

JW: I have one particular Dominican
friend whose use of language I always really dug, as well as the music of his
voice. So, I grabbed a lot from him, and then I hung out in Washington Heights
after I had been working on the character for awhile. The character actually came
to me in a barber shop on 186th
Street, completely, when I was getting a haircut
and shave. The barber’s name was Derbis. When I was done, I looked in the
mirror, and I saw Peeples.

KW:
Professor/filmmaker/author Hisani Dubose says: You are one of the most engaging actors I've ever seen. How are you able
to project so many emotions through your eyes? In the Manchurian Candidate for
example the close-up on your eyes told your story all by itself. Also
where did he get the idea for the way he said “Tiger Woo” in Shaft. People are still
imitating you for laughs.

JW:
Thank you, Hisani. I don’t know how to answer the eyes
question. I just use the eyes that I was born with. But I do think they are a
film actor’s primary tool, so I try to use them well. As for “Tiger Woo,” I was
in Scotland
for the British Open a couple weeks before we started shooting Shaft. Every
day, I was thinking about the script in my head. The original script had me ask
Christian Bale’s character whether he liked tennis. But it occurred to me that
golf would be better, especially since I’d been watching so much of it. So,
instead I asked, “Do you play golf?” before referring to “Tiger Woo,” since
Peebles likes power and aspires to be someone like that. [LOL]

JW:
Being with family. I think that’s what everyone’s earliest
childhood memories revolve around. I was about 2 years-old or so. It must have
been about 1967. I remember where we were living at the time. I just remember
being in this space which was our home at the time, with family.

KW:
The Viola Davis question: What’s the biggest difference between who you are at
home as opposed to the person we see on the red carpet?

JW:
Well, we just had the London
red carpet premiere for Mockingjay in front of about 5,000 people. I hope I’m
not nearly as excitable at home as I am in that situation. If I were as amped
up at home, I think I’d be bouncing off the walls. [Laughs]

KW:
The Harriet Pakula-Teweles question: With so many classic films being redone,
is there a remake you'd like to star in?

JW:
That’s a good question, but I can’t answer it, because I’d
be divulging more than I should right now. But there might be something coming
up in terms of a remake.

KW:
Thanks again for the time, Jeffrey. I’m really honored to
have had this opportunity to speak with you.

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The Sly Fox Film Reviews

KamWilliams.com

The Sly Fox Film Reviews publishes the content of film critic Kam Williams. Voted Most Outstanding Journalist of the Decade by the Disilgold Soul Literary Review in 2008, Kam Williams is a syndicated film and book critic who writes for 100+ publications around the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa, Canada and the Caribbean. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Online, the NAACP Image Awards Nominating Committee and Rotten Tomatoes.

In addition to a BA in Black Studies from Cornell, he has an MA in English from Brown, an MBA from The Wharton School, and a JD from Boston University. Kam lives in Princeton, NJ with his wife and son.